Story Highlights

Albany High School Class of 2014 graduate Nick Budde delivered this speech during commencement Friday in Albany.

Now that high school has come to an end, it's time for us, the Class of 2014, to realize that this is really just the start of a bigger journey — one where we set sail off into a new ocean, the next part of our lives.

For some, the first step will be difficult; others will take it right in stride. Either way, throughout the first 18 years of our lives, we've been equipped with the basic tools to help us make it on this new journey. One of the most important of these is the compass.

Ever since its inception around 200 B.C. during the Chinese Han dynasty, the compass has been an important navigational tool. Without the compass, where would the world be today? Lost.

With no sense of direction, explorers like Columbus may never have been able to continue sailing west and stumble across the Americas should the clouds have blocked out the sun. Countless pioneers and travelers would have gotten lost out in the wilderness of the vast planet that we live on.

Truly, the compass is an important guide in our lives.

We all have our very own compass within us — one that we've developed over these formative years of our lives. However, instead of letting magnetic north guide us, our personal compasses are guided by knowing who we are and where we are meant to go in life.

Our job is to follow the arrow of the compass, to do what we love in life and to find true happiness. Whether this is found in being a farmer, doctor, construction worker, scientist or any other profession, the world needs all of these in order to keep running smoothly. Take most any profession out, and parts of the world would grind to a complete halt.

Where do we fit into this complex machine? That's for us to know — and our internal compass to show us.

Though our journey may bring us past things that distract our inner compass, things that pull the arrow off our true direction in life. Remember that just as an actual compass returns to true north, you, too, are not lost. Know that you can move on from these things; just follow what you truly love in life.

Congratulations fellow members of the AHS Class of 2014. The ocean we are about to set sail upon is vast. Just remember your compass. With its help, you will find your way — maybe even realize your dreams.